redwattle

Canonball Read

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:18:00 +0000

I've accepted a challenge from pajiba to read 52 books in a year starting now. In addition to reading the books I'll have to post a book review about each one here on my blog. It's a challenge that there's a good chance I will fail at. Currently I'm 32 pages into a 400 pager that I guess I'm supposed to finish by Saturday. In spite of the large potential for failure I'm hoping it will nudge me to post more often on redwattle. Some of the books will certainly be in line with the rest of the blog. I've even convinced the people at pajiba to let me read and review a cookbook every once in a while. But of course I'll also read some novels and books that aren't applicable to the rest of the blog. Let me know if you have any book suggestions!

Cochon555

Wed, 27 May 2009 09:21:00 +0000

There's a great event in DC this weekend celebrating good food and heritage breed pigs. Cochon555 is a cooking contest between 5 of DC's finest chefs. Each chef is given a whole pig to cook. Pigs are provided by my friends at EcoFriendly foods, who I buy from frequently at Dupont circle and Arlington Courthouse farmers markets. Tickets are $125 apiece and that also includes wine from local wine-makers.

5 amazing chefs+5 well-treated pigs+5 wine-makers=a damn good time, in my book!

How can I not be against eating foie gras?

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:19:00 +0000

Eater NY recently ran a piece by Chef David Chang of the Momofuku restaurants commenting on foie gras protesters and why he still serves foie gras in his restaurants in spite of the foie gras controversy. (Thanks Sarah for sharing this story with me!). A quick internet search can bring up images of ducks being force fed with a tube jammed down their throats to produce the desired fatty liver. These vivid images have brought animal rights activists to protest several restaurants in New York and elsewhere, including a vandalism last month in a Maryland restaurant. The problem that I have with being blindly against foie gras is that foie gras production can vary greatly from farm to farm. I have a problem with labels. Just as organic meat doesn't necessarily mean humanely raised, foie gras and veal don't necessarily mean animal cruelty.

Veal and foie gras have become buzz words that are supposed to be symbolic of animal cruelty as a whole. I buy veal at my local farmers markets from farmers that I know personally and who treat their animals with love and respect. I think it's possible to produce foie gras in a similar manner. Further research on Hudson Valley foie gras, the producer of the foie gras served by Chef David Chang, brought me to this story in the Village Voice. After reading an objective report of a visit to the farm my conclusion is that Hudson Valley is a responsible farm. Sure, I'd prefer for the ducks to spend more time outside, and I question whether it's not possible to feed the ducks the same amount of food without the force feeding. But it seems like the ducks do have enough space and don't seem in pain during or after the feedings, which reportedly take only fifteen seconds.

Compared to cattle feedlots Hudson Valley foie gras seems completely humane. In cattle feedlots not only do the cows have very little space but they are fed a diet that they can't properly digest which can lead to serious health problems and even death. So why are people, sometimes violently, protesting foie gras with only a handful of relatively small farms producing in the US, instead of protesting the fast food restaurants and chain grocery stores selling this factory farmed beef from the about 35 million cows slaughtered each year?

Hot Enough For You?

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 06:37:00 +0000

On March 1st I attended an event in DC called "Artists for the Climate" sponsored by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network(CCAN). I was expecting a lecture on global warming causes and solutions. It turned out to be more of a rally than a lecture. The event preceded a protest of a Washington DC coal burning power plant on March 2nd, which I did not attend. The protest occurred on the day after the biggest snowfall in DC this year. Numbers were lower because of the snow, but it's reported that about 2500 people attended the protest in front of the power plant that supplies energy to the Capital building. For this one plant the protest was effective as the plant has apparently been ordered to switch to cleaner burning natural gas.

My main reason for attending the "rally" on March 1st was to hear local food movement superstar Wendell Berry, and he didn't disappoint. Though, because of the number of speakers and performers scheduled he was only on stage for a short time. Mr. Berry opened by saying that he's "been flying all over the country for the past 35 to 40 years telling people in effect to stay at home". This simple statement details the complexity of these environmental issues. There is no perfect solution that seems feasible right now.

After making it through 8 speakers and performers I still had yet to hear anyone give a viable solution to global warming. It was mostly people making statements like "there is no clean coal", which of course led to wild applause and cheers from the mostly middle-aged, white, affluent crowd looking to relive memories from their past as flower children. Then Wendell Berry took the stage and plainly said that we need to find an economic solution to global warming. He didn't follow up on this much, since his stage time was limited. It seems to me that this is the key. If there was an alternative energy provider that was much better for the environment I would switch, even if the cost was slightly higher. As far as I know there is no such alternative.

Berry ended his time on stage by reading some poems he had written from a collection called "Sabbaths". The poems were inspired by man's constant search for rest or contentment. The driving force that if I just make this happen then everything will be okay. Whether the something is job related, family related, financially related, or in this case environmentally related. But of course once you make that one thing happen there is something else that you want to make happen next and the Sabbath is never reached.

Other speakers and performers included director of CCAN Mike Tidwell, president of the Hip Hop Caucus Rev. Lennox Yearwood, writer, educator, and environmental activist Bill McKibben, award winning author of "Ecology of a Cracker Childhood" Janisse Ray, 2007 DMV (DC, MD and VA, not department of motor vehicles) Rapper of the Year Laelo Hood, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry Gus Speth, Grammy nominated country music performer Kathy Mattea, and award-winning author and environmental activist Terry Tempest Williams (not knowing it was her I think I told her something to the effect of "wait in line with the rest of us" when she asked how to get inside before the event).

Chicken Liver Mousse

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 04:48:00 +0000

I spotted a bag of chicken livers while browsing through the meat from EcoFriendly Foods at the Dupont farmers market last Sunday. Shopping regularly at farmers markets I've become accustomed to buying whole chickens. It's rare to see a bag full of a single part like the family pack of drumsticks you'd find in the grocery store. On one hand I like to easily recognize that the meat I buy comes from animals so I can give the meat and the animals the respect they deserve. But of course on the other hand there is convenience. I immediately liked the bag of chicken livers since it was a convenience that I don't always see at the farmers market. I also like organ meat. I know many people are opposed to organ meat for various reasons and I can understand the ick factor. I genuinely like the taste of most organ meat I have tried. It has a little more gaminess and richness. I also like to eat the whole animal out of respect for the animal. When an animal gives its life to feed me I prefer to use every last bit of that animal. I often make broth from the leftover carcass of a roasted chicken, and I try to eat the more "undesirable" parts of animals when I find them from ethical, sustainable sources. This desire to eat the undesirables even drove me to eat head cheese when I saw it on the menu at Bar Pilar on Wednesday. It turned out to be quite delicious!

If you are a fellow offalphile I recommend this recipe for chicken liver mousse. It was mighty tasty served on a baguette with cornichons on the side.

And We're Back

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:09:00 +0000

Sorry for the long break, but RedWattle is back! As you can see I've changed the look of the site.(Thanks for the great new banner Melanie!) I've also changed how the site is hosted, which will allow me to add more features in the future. I was hoping to have the site more complete than it currently is before I brought it back, but I was dragging my feet too much. So I decided to bring it back as is and make changes along the way. You may notice that I've lost most of the pictures and all the comments from the posts. There are a few formatting changes that I'll probably make as well. Please let me know if you see anything else that doesn't look right.

I'm hoping that I set the feed up properly. If you're getting this via a feedreader please submit a comment or send me an email, redwattle@gmail.com, so I know that it's working properly.

Thanksgiving Turkey Time!

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. It's time to talk turkey. If you purchase a turkey from your grocery store you're likely to come home with the Broad-breasted White breed of turkey, bred to have a breast so large that they can't mate naturally, and likely factory-farm raised in confinement. There are lots of other turkey options, however. They may require looking further than your grocery store, though. I recommend checking your local farmers market to see which farmers have raised turkeys for this holiday season. Though some will have customers pre-order turkeys they often have extras on hand if you get to the market early the week before Thanksgiving. There are many heritage breeds of turkeys and recommended cooking methods can vary per breed. Below is a list of heritage turkey breeds and a recommended recipe for each. The first two recipes are links to epicurious recipes and the third is the recipe for the beautiful spatchcocked(butterflied) roasted turkey pictured above. I chose a wet brine method for the breeds with a disproportional large breast. This should help keep the breast meat from drying out. For the medium breasted birds I chose a basting recipe. For the small breasted birds with a higher ratio of skin to meat I chose a dry brine method, which allows you to cook on high heat with the fat in the skin keeping the meat juicy and giving you a very crispy skin.

Rosemary-Roasted Turkey
Recommended heritage turkey breeds: Beltsville Small White, Midget White, Broad-breasted Bronze

Cider-Basted Turkey
Recommended heritage turkey breeds: Narragansett, Bourbon Red, Slate, Standard Bronze

Spatchcocked Roasted Turkey(recipe below)
Recommended heritage turkey breeds: Jersey Buff, White Holland, Black, Royal Palm

Spatchcocked Roasted Turkey(season 2 to 4 days before cooking)

Ingredients:
1 heritage breed turkey(recommended breeds listed above)
Salt(3/4 teaspoon per pound of turkey)
Pepper(same amount as salt or to taste)
Rosemary(or other fresh herb)

2 to 4 days before cooking the turkey you should season it. This allows the salt to penetrate the meat, tenderizing and flavoring it. This 'dry brine' method yields a juicy bird and relies on the quality of the turkey to provide the flavor unlike a wet brine in which the juiciness of the brine is the flavor. Spatchcocking(or butterflying) the turkey greatly reduces the cooking time and allows you to cook over high heat. It is also convenient for cooking the turkey on top of stuffing. The turkey juices will run into the stuffing, but the bird can be removed easily when finished and the pan can be placed back in the oven to brown the top of the stuffing.

Spatchcock and season the bird(2 to 4 days before roasting): To spatchcock(butterfly) the turkey cut the backbone out with a heavy knife or sharp pair of kitchen shears. Put the bird on a flat surface, breast-side up, and press down to flatten the bird. Dry the turkey thoroughly with paper towels. Season the the turkey with 3/4 teaspoon salt per pound and an equal amount of fresh ground pepper. Use your finger to create a cavern between the skin and meat and place sprigs of rosemary or other herbs under the skin in four places: above each breast and above each thigh. Store turkey in the fridge until roasting. The larger the bird the longer beforehand you should season it.

Roasting the turkey: Position the oven rack at its lowest level and preheat to 425 degrees. Dry your turkey thoroughly with paper towels. This will allow the turkey to roast properly and not steam. Place turkey in a roasting pan on top of stuffing(if desired). Check turkey after a half hour to see how dark the skin is. If the turkey appears to be browning too quickly lower the heat to 375. I like to roast the turkey to a dark golden brown. After this point check the turkey every half hour by placing a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh. The turkey is done when it registers 170 degrees. Also check the browning of the skin and lower heat or cover parts with foil if they brown too quickly. Check the turkey more frequently when the meat thermometer reading approaches the desired temperature. Remove turkey to platter, tent with foil, and allow to rest in a warm place for at least fifteen minutes(and up to 45) before carving. The roasting pan can go back into the oven to brown the top of the stuffing at this point.

Top 10 Reasons to Buy Food from Local Small Farms

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0000

1) It's better for the environment

2) Less oil consumption

3) Better for your health

4) Better for animals

5) Support your community

6) It tastes better

7) Make a statement that you care about how your food is produced

8) Build a tradition of good quality regional food

9) Conserve heirloom breeds of plants and animals

10) Stay in touch with the seasons

Do You Bake Locally Too?

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0000

If you read my last post it will probably come as no surprise to you that some baking recipes will soon be posted on RedWattle. This seems to be a good time to shed some light on exactly where I stand on local eating, especially how it pertains to baked goods. Some of you may have a friend who promises to get you baked locally when you're in town. You may even know how to make local bacon. But do you bake locally?

I claim to be a locavore, but I'm certainly not a purist. I don't insist that all of my food come from within a 100-mile or 300-mile radius from my home. If given a choice I do try to pick the most local, environmentally sustainable, or humane option available(not necessarily in that order). As I write this post I'm sipping on a cup of coffee, so clearly I'm not a hardcore locavore. I did choose the South American coffee over the African available at the coffee shop, however.

For baking I apply the same principles. The eggs I use are almost always local and from pasture raised chickens. I try to use local dairy products from grass-fed cows whenever possible, but since I only have a once a week dairy delivery there are times when I need a mid-week dairy purchase from the store. If that's the case I try to get the best option available at the grocery store. For dairy and other animal products I always put treatment of animals over all other criteria. I will choose milk from a pasture-raised cow from across the country over a local feed-lot cow. Other than treatment of animals, however, quality of the product is the next most important thing to me. This usually points me to local products anyway, since minimal shipping and handling occurs.

Local flour and local sugar is much tougher to find than local dairy and eggs. I usually buy King Arthur flour, a Vermont based company. I was hoping this meant that most of the flour came from the Eastern US. After contacting the company I learned that this is not the case. They buy flour from mills across the US and some in Canada. Though it is good that their flour at least comes from North America, this is probably the case for most of the flour purchased in the US. Maybe if I contact a local mill directly I can find local flour, though past attempts at this have led me nowhere.

Local sugar is difficult to acquire as well. There is plenty of sugar produced in the US from sugar cane in the south and sugar beets in the north. Narrowing down exactly where the sugar that you purchase in the store is produced is no easy feat, however.

In general I stay as local as I can with what's available to me. For now that means buying flour and sugar without knowing exactly where it was produced. If anyone knows how to find these products locally I'd love to hear about it. Otherwise I'll just enjoy supporting local eggs and local dairy for my baked goods and try to support US flour and sugar whenever possible.

A Spectacular Engagement Party

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0000

photo by Chris Heishman

Over the weekend, along with our friends Chris and Chris, Melanie(pictured above) and I threw an engagement party for our close friends Tim and Annabel. We decided that the party would be a dessert buffet. So in addition to lots of alcohol for celebrating we would need lots of desserts for buffeting. We decided that all the desserts would be light in color, which worked well since the bride-to-be is allergic to chocolate. I nominated myself head baker with no objections.

photo by Chris Heishman

As pictured above with fancy numbered cards made by Melanie the desserts that I baked were: coconut mini cupcakes, hazelnut cheesecake, macarons with white chocolate ganache, Hungarian shortbread, glazed mini-round petits fours, meringue cookies, hazelnut biscotti, mini raspberry swirls, mini Florentine squares, powdered sugar coated dark chocolate truffles, and white chocolate mascarpone cheesecake. The last dessert on the table is pumpkin mini cupcakes baked by our friend Julie.

photo by Chris Heishman

Melanie even made some snazzy menus (on the corner of the table above) to highlight my baking efforts. I'll end this post with a picture of a happy couple. Not the couple whose engagement we were celebrating that night, though 'happy' doesn't even begin to describe their glow of joy right now. Here's a picture of me and my wonderful wife Melanie on a night when we got to be head baker and elegant paper product making party planner. Thanks also to Chris for all the photos and for the great job decorating and to the other Chris for the alcohol and the venue.

photo by Chris Heishman

Off the Grid

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0000

A friend of mine directed this episode of MTV's "True Life" titled 'I'm living off the grid'. It chronicles two 25-year olds who attempt to live off the land for a year with very few modern-day amenities. Watch the video below and think about which aspects of "living off the grid" we can apply to our society.

True Life - MTV Shows

It seems that people who go to the camp see it more as a spiritual experience than a feasible way to live every day life. For most people even going to the camp, taking a year off and paying about $8000 for the privilege to live "off the grid" would be impossible, but I truly respect the way participants treat animals that they eat. The disconnect in the modern food system between animals and cellophane-wrapped meat makes it difficult to appreciate that an animal gave its life so you can keep on living. I try to get this connection with the animal by buying directly from the farmer who raised it. Beyond that maybe a hunting trip will be in order at some point. I'm a strong supporter of freedom for all animals. I can't imagine a freer system than living directly in the predator-prey environment that is part of the animal kingdom: a kingdom of which humans sometimes fail to admit we are members.

Oyster and Corn Chowder

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Oyster and corn chowder is wonderful in the fall when oysters are small and tasty and corn is plentiful from the summer harvest. The first time I made this chowder was for a couple of close friends, Melissa and JT, at a time when we were just becoming close friends. It was probably the only time that just the three of us were in a room. I was single at the time, but both JT and Melissa had significant others who were out of town. I was starting to really bond with JT, a college friend who I had spent little time with previously. Our new found connection was aided by his awesome wife who I had met for the first time a couple months before (in spite of us going to high school and college together). But his wife was out of town visiting family.

I had spent a good deal of time with Melissa the week before. She was dating Tim, my roommate at the time, and I felt it was my duty to take care of her in his absence, whether she needed me taking care of her or not. This was about half-way through the wonderful year that I spent living in New York City and I decided that I would make a meal for New Years Eve. Oyster and corn chowder with mini corn muffins seemed like a good start to the meal.

The chowder was a wonderful first course. The conversation flowed with a strong positive correlation to the flow of wine, provided by Melissa. We followed the chowder with hanger steak in shallot butter and a side of sauteed collard greens with bacon and finished the meal with JT's homemade buttermilk biscuit strawberry shortcake. Being New Years Eve, the wine at dinner was only the start of a night long bender that moved us from Melissa's small apartment in the West Village to another friend's apartment in Chelsea a few blocks away. We partied long and hard. The next day I was held responsible for hand prints on the ceiling, which I could neither confirm nor deny. Throughout the night I tried to check up on Melissa. This was the first time that Melissa was hanging out with Tim's friends solo and she seemed to be having a great time. When 'the drink' got the better of her I escorted her to a cab. When 'the drink' got the better of me I continued my routine of embarrassing break dancing and tomfoolery.

That night will always hold a special place in my memory archive as will all the time that I spent with Melissa. Two years ago this month Melissa died. A sudden heart attack left her in the hospital for a week and a half, intubated and struggling to hold on to life. A week and a half was as long as she could hold on, in spite of how much her family, her then husband Tim, and all of our friends wanted to hold on to her for longer.

During that week and a half I spent a lot of time in the ICU waiting room. I didn't know what I could do to help, but I knew if I could help I needed to be there. So I was there and I waited for an opportunity to help. Melissa taught me about friendship during that time. Not just what it means to be friends with her and attempt to use all of my strength to try and magically remove her from that hospital bed, but she showed me what a wonderful group of friends that I have. There was a constant entourage assembled in the ICU waiting room or at her bedside. Along a corridor of white walls and lonely patients there was one room full of pictures, posters and people. I would read to Melissa from the gossip mags or passages from her favorite author, Paul Auster, and Tim would play music for her from their wedding mix. There were many other regulars in the hospital as well. So many, in fact, that the nursing staff simply referred to Melissa as "the one with all the friends".

On cool fall days or even on warm days when there's a chill in your heart nothing warms you up better than chowder. Enjoy a steamy bowl of oyster and corn chowder from this recipe by Jacques Pepin.

Oyster and Corn Chowder

from Jacques Pepin Celebrates

Ingredients:
3 dozen oysters shucked
3 TBSP unsalted butter
1 medium leek, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
4 large garlic cloves, peeled, crushed, and finely chopped
3 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 cups corn kernels (cut from 4 ears of corn)
salt
fresh ground pepper
1 TBSP minced chives

Heat the butter in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion and leek and saute gently for 3 or 4 minutes.

to chop a leek

Add the garlic and stir for30 seconds, and add the milk and cream. Bring to a strong boil, then add the corn, oysters and their liquid, salt and pepper to taste. Heat until the temperature reaches between 170 and 180 degrees F at the most. If any scum rises to the surface remove it with a skimmer. Add the chives and mix well. Serve with mini corn muffins, cornbread, oyster crackers, or nothing at all. For a heartier chowder add potatoes as well. Saute them at the beginning until they soften, then add the rest of the ingredients in the order listed above.

I Went to the Windy City and All I Got were these Micro-Greens

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Melanie and I had a summer full of travels. Over the summer I went to Chicago twice. In addition to catching up with some great friends some highlights were going to the green city market and dining at Rick Bayless's Frontera Grill.

Frontera Grill with Good Friends

At both the market and Frontera Grill I was overwhelmed with micro-green mania. These tiny greens and sprouts seem to be everywhere in Chicago. They were a delicious side salad at Frontera Grill and I used them on a baguette with olive tapenade and goat cheese, above, and on figs with goat cheese, below.

Even with the plethora of micro-greens my favorite find at the market was grass-fed elk. Seasoned simply with salt and pepper and grilled over high heat the elk was wonderful accompanied with mushrooms, sauteed with wine, cream and fresh herbs.

Local Food Store to Open in Columbia Heights in 2009

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Richmond's Ellwood Thompson's, a grocery store specializing in local and organic food, recently announced that it will be expanding to Washington DC. The store will be located at the corner of 14th and Irving NW, near the Columbia Heights metro station and is scheduled to open towards the end of 2009. I look forward to local food being more convenient to access when the store opens!

Financial Markets are Too Free, Rapper Warren G Called in to Regulate

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Okay, this post isn't really about Warren G, and I don't really think the market is too free. I like freedom. Some say that politicians were at the root of the market collapse, so I'm skeptical about more involvement.

One place where I want even less government involvement is in our food system. A recent panel hosted by the UC Berkeley school of journalism entitled "A Food Agenda for the Next Administration" described the food system as under-regulated and most on the panel think more government involvement is necessary. While I know their goals with the food system are the same or very similar to mine I feel that however well meaning a food related government policy is its implementation is more likely to hurt the small farmer than to help him or her. The big voices of agriculture in Washington aren't small farmers they are huge agribusinesses. As we've seen in the past I think it is more likely that these companies will continue to drive the food policies of this country, especially since we are in a recession and the demand for cheaper food will certainly increase.

The panel cited the Chinese milk contamination as an example of a place where government regulation could have helped. Testing of food for contaminants is certainly a good idea, but that's different from regulation. Most small farmers would agree to testing their products, it's the factory farms that are more likely to have a problem with that. The government solutions are often to implement a plan that is convenient for these huge operations and not scaled down to the small family farm. Fees, like organic certification, are the same regardless of the size of the farm. Tax breaks are given to feed lots for recycling cow excrement, but nothing is given to the small grass-fed beef farm that requires no recycling of waste since it's all used to fertilize the grass. Slaughterhouse regulations are written with only the huge operations in mind who strive for the most animals killed per hour. It's illegal for a small farmer to slaughter and sell large animals on farm even though it will most certainly be done in a more humane way (for both the animals and the workers) than at the large operations.

And then of course there are corn subsidies. The government is funding the overproduction of commodity corn, which is essentially inedible to humans unless chemically converted to high-fructose corn syrup. Without the government checks it wouldn't be profitable to grow commodity corn, which in edition to providing the empty calories and lack of nutritional value in soft drinks is also fed to livestock and is even more unhealthy to them, at least in the case of cows. Cows have evolved to survive on grass. Consumption of large amounts of corn will typically kill a cow in under a year, that is unless they are given regular doses of antibiotics. Even though cows are herbivores the USDA also recommended bone meal as a good protein supplement for cows, that is until the mad cow scare made them question feeding cows other cows. (A lot of the examples above are taken from The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Everything I want to do is Illegal by Joel Salatin).

These past policies give me little faith in greater government control of the food system. It's naive to think that asking for more government regulation will result in improvements for the small farmer and greater access to local food when it has had the opposite effect in the past. I have more faith in people demanding good quality food that respects the workers, the consumers, the animals, and the land and refusing to eat food from irresponsible producers. I know consumer demand can make a positive difference.

Casting in DC for The Next Food Network Star!

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0000

"The Next Food Network Star" has an open-call this Friday in the DC area from 10am to 3pm. If you're interested in trying out for the show and a chance for your own food network show click the link below for more info.

www.foodnetwork.com/star

Grilled Pork Loin with Cherry Chutney

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +0000

With summer upon us grills are firing in full force all over the country. This recipe nicely pairs grilled pork with seasonal fruit. It's a great dish to share with friends at a backyard BBQ, which is just what I did a few weeks ago. Feel free to experiment with different fruit in the chutney. I could see this also being nice with a peach or apricot chutney.

Grilled Pork Loin with Cherry Chutney

Ingredients:
Pork loin
cumin(ground or seed)
salt
pepper
2 cups ripe pitted cherries
2 jalapenos(from my garden), seeded and diced
1 medium onion, diced
vegetable oil

Season the pork 1 to 3 days in advanced. If you have to season the pork the same day that you cook it try and do it at least a few hours ahead of time. The longer before cooking that you season the more the salt will penetrate the meat, tenderizing and bringing out the meats natural flavors. The larger the piece of meat the longer beforehand it should be seasoned. Use about 3/4 teaspoon salt per pound of pork. The salt I use is fine sea salt, which is still fairly coarse for "fine" salt. For kosher salt use a little more than 3/4 teaspoon per pound and for a very fine grain salt use a little less.

Cover the loin completely with the salt. Then cover liberally with fresh ground pepper. Use about 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds per pound of pork or 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin per pound. If using cumin seeds crush slightly in a mortar and pestle or under something heavy like a frying pan. Spread cumin evenly over pork. Loosely cover the pork and place in the refrigerator until about an hour before cooking.

To make the chutney, add about a tablespoon of vegetable oil to a sauce pan on medium heat. Add the onions and jalapenos(other chilis can be substituted if you want more fire) and cook until onions are translucent, a few minutes. Add the cherries to the pan. (If you don't have a cherry pitter the cherries can be pitted simply by squeezing the pit out if the cherry is ripe enough or by pressing the cherry with a large flat knife to push out the pit). The cherries will release a lot of water at first. Cook until chutney reduces to a thick sauce, adjusting heat to keep at a steady boil and stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. Taste the chutney and adjust flavor as needed. Add salt, sugar, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, or any other flavorings that you think will help. Take the chutney off of the heat and let sit at room temperature until serving.

About an hour before grilling remove the pork from the fridge. Fire up the grill, whether it's charcoal or gas, and bring it up to hot. Dry off the pork with paper towels. Brush with oil if it doesn't have a lot of fat on it. Place fat side down on the hottest part of the grill and cook for a few minutes to get a nice char. After sufficient char is achieved flip the loin and char the other side. Once both sides are charred move the loin to indirect heat on a charcoal grill or bring the flame to low on a gas grill. Cooking times will vary depending on the grill and the thickness of the meat. You can use a meat thermometer to tell if the pork is done, but the quickest and easiest way for me to tell doneness of meat is by touch. As the meat cooks it tightens and becomes very firm. A well done piece of meat will feel like a flexed muscle, while a rare piece of meat will feel like a relaxed muscle. You can practice this feel by touching the muscle in your hand between your thumb and pointer finger. Make a tight fist and touch this hand muscle. That's the fell of well-done meat. Keep your hand in a fist and relax slightly, that is about how you want the pork to feel when it's done. Move the pork off the grill to a warm spot to rest for about 10 minutes before slicing.

To serve the pork slice and drizzle or cover with cherry chutney.

Red Wattle Hog at Del Posto

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Some friends of mine recently went to the acclaimed New York City, Italian restaurant Del Posto, started by Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich, and Joseph Bastianich. They reported back on a great meal, but also the nice surprise of a course that included pork from Red Wattle Hog: Potato Gnocchi with Red Wattle Ragu, Shaved Fennel and Burnt Pollen.

Raw Fava Beans with Salami and Cheese

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Fresh fava beans are a late spring and early summer treat. They taste crisp and fresh, like springtime, with a slight aftertaste of an aged cheese. This simple recipe captures the wonderful flavors of the raw favas. The favas pair well with good quality salami. I substituted sweet bologna(pictured here) from a local farm for the salami. While the sweet bologna was very good on its own, it didn't work well with the favas. I would recommend going with salami, preferably local if you can find it.

Salami with Raw Favas, Mint, and Manchego Cheese
from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco's Beloved Restaurant

Ingredients:
2 pounds whole young favas

3 oz thinly sliced pork salami

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

a few fresh mint leaves

manchego or other sheep milk cheese

salt and fresh cracked black pepper

The favas need to be double peeled. First take the beans out of the outer pod. Then remove the latex like shell that surrounds each bean. For this recipe do this raw to keep the fresh flavor. Other recipes may call for blanching first. Split the favas in half and combine in a bowl with olive oil, mint, salt and pepper. Put salami on a plate. Top with the seasoned favas. With a peeler add a few curls of the cheese. Serve immediately. The favas will lose their crispness if they sit for too long.

Major Supermarkets Claim to Go Local: Be Prepared to be Deceived

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Papa's got a brand new bag

Some major supermarkets have recently started advertising that they support local farmers, making it clear that they are aware of the consumer's desire to eat local food. While it is wonderful to see that these supermarkets are aware of our wants it would be even better if they delivered on what they advertised. I was very impressed with the marketing I saw in a few stores around me but wholly unimpressed with the actual food, which turned out still to be mostly from outside the region.

I visited two supermarkets in the Washington, DC area this past week (both in Arlington, VA). The first was Whole Foods. As you can see above, Whole Foods is now advertising on their shopping bags their commitment to supporting local farms. I'm not sure how they support these farms since most of the produce section is still from California. In fact the only thing that I saw in the produce section, which claimed to be local was asparagus from New Jersey. I guess New Jersey is only a couple hundred miles away, so that's not bad. Of course there's also asparagus grown on farms in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, which are closer than New Jersey. My complaint isn't really about the New Jersey asparagus, though. It's about the lack of anything else in the produce department from anywhere near by. We are entering the heart of the growing season around here, so there's no lack of local produce.

Looking around for other changes I explored the meat, seafood and dairy departments at Whole Foods. Each department had a few local items, but were mostly stocked with food from elsewhere. The meat is now labeled "naturally raised", but that just means no antibiotics or growth hormones without consideration of whether or not the animal was raised in confinement. The only things that seem to have changed at Whole Foods are the shopping bags.

The next supermarket that I visited was Harris Teeter. After viewing a recent Harris Teeter television ad promising local food, I had to take a look. What I saw there was more great marketing. Firstly they call their produce department the "Harris Teeter Farmers Market" and their seafood department the "Harris Teeter Fishermans Market". Pretty clever, huh? They also have large signs around the produce department which highlight their farmers. The signs look nice and send a positive message, which I was excited to see at first. Unfortunately they are very misleading since they seem to be dispersed in the produce section in no particular order.

The first sign I saw in the "Harris Teeter Farmers Market" featured a North Carolina farm. The farm apparently grows melons and berries. The sign was placed over a display of strawberries, so my first thought was that the strawberries were from the farm in North Carolina. However, upon closer inspection, I discovered that the strawberries were from California. I never did find anything in the store that was grown on the North Carolina farm or anywhere else in the region for that matter. The rest signs in the produce department featured farms in California and South America.

The meat and seafood departments didn't seem to have anything local either. In the dairy department my eyes immediately met a quart of milk in a glass bottle advertising to be growth-hormone free. This looked like a good sign to me as my delicious, delicious milk comes delivered to me straight from the farm in a glass bottle. Of course when I looked closer I noticed that the milk was bottled in Texas. The glass bottles, instead of being reused as are those from my local farm delivery, just make for a very heavy cross-country trip. On a good note Harris Teeter did offer some locally bottled milk.

These grocery stores have made a commitment to advertise local. And they have the knowledge of consumer desires and marketing know-how to pull it off. Let's hope that consumers force them to fill their bags advertising local food with actual local food.